What Kind of Fool

"What Kind of Fool"
Single by Barbra Streisand and Barry Gibb
from the album Guilty
B-side	"The Love Inside" (US) "Make It Like A Memory" (UK)
Released	January 1981
Format	7"
Recorded	February 1980 Middle Ear, Miami Beach, Florida
Genre	R&B
Length	4:06
Label	Columbia Records (US) CBS Records (UK)
Songwriter(s)	Barry Gibb, Albhy Galuten
Producer(s)	Gibb-Galuten-Richardson
Barbra Streisand singles chronology
"Guilty" (1980) "What Kind of Fool" (1981) "Promises" (1981)
"Guilty" (1980) "What Kind of Fool" (1981) "Promises" (1981)
Barry Gibb singles chronology
"Guilty" (1980) Guilty1980 "What Kind of Fool" (1981) What Kind of Fool1981 "Shine, Shine" (1984) Shine, Shine1984

"What Kind of Fool" is the title of a vocal duet from 1981 (see 1981 in music) by singers Barbra Streisand and Barry Gibb. The song was written by Gibb and Albhy Galuten.

Background

The songs on the Guilty album were a collaboration between Streisand and all the members of the Bee Gees, including Barry's brothers, Robin and Maurice Gibb. But Barry Gibb played the largest role of the brothers on the album, co-writing and co-producing most of the tracks and appearing on the album cover embracing Streisand. Co-producer Karl Richardson was quoted describing Barry Gibb's contribution to this song: "He did the demo first. Barbra sang to the demo, then he came back and replaced a couple of things after he had heard what she was doing."^[1]

Released as the third single from Streisand's 1980 album Guilty, "What Kind of Fool" was the third consecutive top ten single from the album in the United States. "Woman in Love" reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, and the album's title track (also a duet between the two singers) reached number three, both in late 1980. "What Kind of Fool" spent three weeks at number ten on the Hot 100 in March and April 1981. It also spent four weeks atop the Billboard adult contemporary chart.

Glee Version

Popular American TV serial Glee covered this song in 2011 by fictional character Blaine Anderson (as played by Darren Criss). This was featured on their soundtrack album Glee: The Music Presents the Warblers. No Glee episode had featured this version, as it is only appeared in the album.

Personnel

References